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State v. Pacheco4/17/2003
Opinion Vote: AFFIRMED.
Montgomery, P.J. and Garrison, J., concur
Opinion: AFFIRMED.
Appellant, Crystal Pacheco, ("Defendant") appeals from her conviction and sentence after a jury found her guilty of second-degree murder, statute 565.021; driving while intoxicated, statute 577.010 and statute 577.023; leaving the scene of an accident, statute 577.060; and driving with a revoked license, statute 302.321. The trial court imposed respective concurrent sentences of thirty years, five years, and two years in the Missouri Department of Corrections, and one year in the Greene County jail. Defendant raises two points of trial court error. As more fully explained below, in her first point Defendant contends the trial court erred when it denied her motion to suppress evidence seized without a warrant together with the results of the subsequent laboratory examination of that evidence. In her second point, Defendant posits trial court error on the basis of improperly admitted testimony from an unavailable witness whom Defendant could not effectively cross-examine. We affirm.
"We review the evidence presented at trial in the light most favorable to the verdict." State v. Middleton, 995 S.W.2d 443, 452 (Mo. banc 1999).
The record shows that Ms. Walci Cory worked as a dietary aide at the Springfield Residential Center. On September 23, 2000, Ms. Cory and co-worker Ms. Sandra Fisher timed out at 8:56 p.m. and waited outside their workplace for a member of Ms. Cory's family to pick her up. No one showed up, however, and after a brief wait Ms. Cory elected to walk home, proceeding north along West Avenue.
Ms. Cory failed to arrive home, and the next morning a family member requested the police to search the route between Ms. Cory's workplace and home. Police officers discovered her body in a ditch at the 800 block of South West Avenue, approximately four or five blocks from her workplace and in the proximity of Ballpark Tavern. Ms. Cory had various injuries, tears in the back-left part of her shirt, and blue paint markings located below the tears. Sergeant Randall Wayne Latch and other police officers investigated the scene and uncovered various pieces of evidence, including:
blue paint chips from the back of Ms. Cory's shirt and immediate surrounding area; a piece of plastic resembling part of an automobile grill assembly; pieces of silver plastic; a yellow piece of plastic which resembled a vehicle's reflector; and a part from a headlight assembly which had manufacturer's numbers and a marking which indicated a Ford vehicle.
Based on this evidence, Sgt. Latch concluded that Ms. Cory was struck from behind by a blue Ford. Later that day, Sgt. Latch observed a Ford van with a grill assembly similar to that found at the accident scene, and concluded that the vehicle involved in the accident was a Ford van. Sgt. Latch and other police officers commenced a search for a blue Ford van with front-end damage, and a canvass of the neighborhood revealed such a vehicle parked in Defendant's driveway, located just north of where Ms. Cory's body was discovered.
Sergeant Latch and several other police officers proceeded to Defendant's house, where a blue Ford van was parked in the driveway at the front of the house. The officers observed that the van had damage to the hood and front-right fender, the headlight assembly, and reflector. Defendant responded to the officers' knock at the door. After Sgt. Latch read Defendant her Miranda rights, she spoke with the officers. Defendant stated that she did not know how the van was damaged, that other family members who drove the van were out of town for the weekend, and that she
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